


“Don’t Be Sad, Call Me Your Dad(dy)”

by Paddymoon



Category: GOT7, Jackson Wang - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2020-12-28 17:02:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21140141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paddymoon/pseuds/Paddymoon
Summary: IDK the whole story yet. Just a chick who’s finally getting a dream interview with one of her favorite idols that turns to more? This is a wip and my first bit into the writing field. IDK how this works but I am using this as a way to get my feet wet and enjoy a story that has been plaguing my mind since Mr. Wang entered my life.





	1. Ruining the Interview Before It Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our main character, Angelina is rushing around to finish setting up for her dream interview with Jackson Wang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First story I've written. Will probably come back to it and edit it as time goes on.

When it came down to it, Angelina couldn’t depend on anyone. At least, that’s how she felt when she had to remember to bring all the equipment in from the car. Again. From setting up the cameras and checking the microphones, she was rushing around the room all day preparing for this interview. She’s used to hustling herself around due to her internship, but she’s been a reporter solely now for the last 3 years. She had made decent headway in the game and deserved a break. The newer interns didn’t take her seriously due to the fact that she was only their senior in name. The one whom everyone listened to was Julie. Julie was confident, well spoken, and attractive. She got the job done by depending on everyone else to do it for her. Especially her younger cousin. “I’m only 2 months younger than her. You’d think I was 10 years younger with how she treats me” Angelina mutters to herself.

She sighs as she hikes up the last of the gear she needs to bring in. On her way into the building where she works, she bumps into someone. “Jesus Christ! Don’t you see I’m carrying equipment here?!” She huffs out.

“Uhhhh, no. Sorry.” the person says. Angelina panics upon hearing the voice.

“Crap. I’m so sorry!” She lays the stands down at her feet so she can confirm her fear.

As she looks up from the pile, she slowly looks over the perpetrator. The shoes are black and shiny. She doesn’t know nor cares who the maker is but they look expensive. The pants are black dress pants that end right at the wearer’s ankles. As she moves her eyes faster up the frame she notices a silk red dress shirt. The collar and a few top buttons opened and showing off the black cotton undershirt underneath. Angelina looks down at the hands of the person. She eyes a gold bracelet on one hand, a wristwatch on the other with a red piece of yarn tucked underneath it. The fingers are slender and adorn with rings. _Crap. Holy fucking crap._ She thinks to herself.

She swallows and goes back to the neckline and sees a gold necklace with what looks like the all too familiar Chinese character for “Wang”. _Fuck my life_ she repeats to herself over and over in her head until she looks directly in his beautiful deep brown eyes. It’s Jackson Wang.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really enjoyed writing this chapter. It's nice to dive into new characters for the first time!


	2. Anxiety is a Bitch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lina interviews Jackson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've updated the end of this chapter. Didn't think I needed to add any interview questions or whatnot just because an interview is an interview. I honestly wouldn't want to make Lina be unprofessional during it, so I didn't dive too hard into it. If you think I should, let me know! Thanks for reading.

“I am so sorry” she exclaimed.

He looked at her and cocked his head to the side with a raised eyebrow. “Do I know you?” Jackson questioned.

“Uhh. Er. I mean. No. No you don’t.” She looks down to the ground to stop herself from panicking. _Ok. ok. Just like we’ve practiced. Breathe in through your nose. Out through your mouth. Try to think about what you’re wear-oh God_.

She looks herself over and remembers she isn’t quite as done up as she’d have hoped when she met the idol. Her head shoots up to meet his puzzled look with her panicked eyes and stumbles out “I have to get going. Again, I am so sorry.” As she picks up her stands and runs off before he could inquire any further about anything.

_I can’t believe I just did that. I can’t believe I just fucked up meeting Jackson_. She lays her head against the back wall of the elevator. After throwing the stands in she quickly pressed the button to her floor and prayed the doors would close and the elevator would swallow her whole. She closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths before the elevator chimes and comes to a stop. As she makes her way off the elevator she hears a high pitched squeal.

“Gelli! Oh my gosh, girl. What are you doing lifting that by yourself? Where’s John or Tom? They were supposed to be helping you set up the room but I haven’t seen them.”

Angelina knows exactly where the men are. At the coffee shop next door. They laughed while sipping their coffees and watching Angelina struggle to pull the stands out of the van herself. “Oh, we woulda helped ya if you just waited” Tom said.

Chuckling, John chimed in with “Yeah. We just wanted some coffee first. But you always gotta get it done by yourself. Take it easy, man. They’re not paying you nearly enough to be doing all this grunt work.”

Angelina looks at Julie and replies “I haven’t seen them.” She starts to walk off before Julie can press any further when the elevator doors open again.

This time to a figure Angelina is far too stressed to see right now. “Heya, Lina. How’ve ya been? I saw you crash into that guy and ream him for your own clumsiness.”

The taller person smirks at Angelina while she rolls her eyes and continues off her way to the interview room. Jared interned with her and moved up after she did. But it seems as though she was his lesser since he got more reports to work on and had to do next to no work.

He was always out dancing and partying “for the channel reports”. Lina scoffs to herself. She wishes she had half the confidence Jared seemed to have. She’s watched his reports on the “cool music spots in town” for the last three months and honestly got sick of seeing his face. But his videos brought in at least five hundred thousand views each time he uploaded. Whereas hers brought in maybe fifty thousand. Ok. So she like Kpop. She knows it’s in Korean. She knows most people can’t be bothered to look outside their own to see the value in art in any form, let alone another culture’s. She wanted to make a difference by making videos that showcased the talent of all the artists she’s come to know and love. One of those artists in particular was Jackson Wang. She thought about the incident earlier and cringed again. Near tears, she closes her eyes again and steadies her breathing. Finally calmed, she finishes setting up the interview room.

She finishes up getting ready for the interview. Dressed in simple but professional charcoal grey pencil skirt with a light pink collared blouse and black low heeled shoes. She didn’t want to offend Jackson by being taller than him (even though he’s not short, he’s got a complex and she would not want to piss him off any more than she already has). Angelina was happy that she looked somewhat decent with light makeup to match her outfit. A more “natural” look so she doesn’t look more like a clown in front of Jackson. She thinks back to when she first started noticing Jackson in the kpop scene. He was vibrant, energetic, and playful. “Puppy Wang” is what she called him in her videos. She started the videos because she needed an outlet to talk about her new obsession with others. After a few months on her own, her cousin brought her onto her channel to develop an audience for her pop music vlogs. On top of interning at an already famous tv station, she was now shooting videos for her cousin on the side. Angelina didn’t mind it as long as she loved what she was talking about, which was what she was doing on the weekly show. It was something she looked forward to during the rough stretches of time while interning. That is, until her cousin’s channel was bought by her tv station boss and she was made to help her cousin 24/7. With the new explosion and obsession people seem to be developing for kpop, Julie decided to finally beg Angelina to start reporting on kpop again.

Everyone loved Julie and when she pitched the idea to the boss, he let her run with it. Angelina sighs as she looks herself over once more. Although she worked out usually, she couldn’t seem to get rid of the extra weight she had developed since college. She could only hope the spanx she wore under her outfit helped keep everything looking smooth. One last look and she walked back to her office to grab her paper with the questions she had been dying to ask Jackson. “Ok. Not a time to back out of this now. We gotta do it, Lina. Do not fuck yourself over because of a simple accident. He probably won’t even remember.” She says to herself as she open the door to the interview room.

As Angelina walks through the door, she puts on her “interviewer’s face” (smiling, and trying to look as disarming as possible) when she stops short to see someone sitting in the interviewer’s seat already. Fire burning behind her eyes, she calmly walks up to Julie. Julie sits with her legs crossed and leaning towards the idol. Her hands are outstretched towards Jackson, and both people sitting were all smiles. _I bet she was trying to get him to hit on her_. Lina laments. She thinks back to her High School and early College days when Julie would do the same thing with anyone Lina even bothered to look at. Julie always seemed to need to one up Lina in Lina’s eyes, and she refuses to allow her to pull the interview and interviewee away from her.

“Jules! Thanks for keeping Mr. Wang here company while I finish setting everything up. Tom was outside. Weren’t you looking for him earlier?” Lina says a little more polite than she wanted to but it did the job.

Julie looks up at Lina with a disgusted look on her face. “Well. Yes. I need to know why they left you to do everything yourself.”

She looks back at Jackson and smiles. “It was quite the pleasure to accommodate you. Please, if you need anything. And I mean anything.” She pauses for dramatic flair and Lina subconsciously rolls her eyes. “Don’t hesitate to call me. At any time.” Julie finishes with a hand on Jackson’s arm. She looks back up to Lina, smiles sourly to her, and walks off.

Jackson looks at Julie with a smile and then turns to Lina. “Your voice sounds familiar.” He ponders for a second before laughing. Pointing to Lina, he says “You’re the one who yelled at me about being in their way, aren’t you?”

Lina freezes at the mention of earlier incident. “Honestly, I really didn’t mean to be so rude. I couldn’t see in front of me. It was my fault. I apologize.”

Jackson looks to her, cocks his eyebrow, and softens his smile. “It sounds like Tom is the one who should be apologizing. Why were you carrying equipment when he was supposed to be doing it?”

“If I depended on those brats to do their job I would never get an interview done.” Lina states. “Honestly easier and faster if I do it since I’m used to doing it anyway.”

At that Jackson stands up and looks around the room. Pointing at Lina, he says “You did all this on your own?” He spins around taking in all the work Lina put into making the interview seem as professional as she could. “How?”

Lina stares at Jackson incredulously. “What do you mean how? I’ve been doing interviews for 3 years and ran my own series a few years back. It’s not hard once it becomes a habit to put things together.”

Jackson laughs “I mean it looks less like you’re sitting in front of your bedroom wall talking about how amazing I am and more like a professional setting. You sure have grown from that fan, huh?”

Lina can feel her hands getting clammy_. Shit. He watched me? He knows I’m a fan? Wait_. ”So when you said my voice sounded familiar, do you mean you knew who I was downstairs?” She spits out.

“I might?” He replies innocently.

Lina looks Jackson over as he smiles sweetly to her and she just starts laughing. “If you knew I was a fan before, why did you agree to this interview?”

Jackson sits back down before replying to her. He takes a beat to gather his thoughts. “Well. You see, we watch videos from fans. A lot. For feedback. Mostly for laughs. But your videos always put a smile on my face. I got worried when you changed from your original format to going behind the scenes. I was happy to see you come back to kpop, even if it wasn’t like before. When my manager told me who wanted the interview, I told them I’d only give it to you. They wanted Julie to do it. And she still pressed me when we were coming into the room. I knew it wouldn’t be the same unless you did the interview. And I just wanted to thank you for your support by giving you some time.”

Lina looked floored. Why would he be so worried about her? She tells herself to not look to close into it. “Thanks, Jackson. It really means a lot that you have this faith in me.”

Jackson smiles. “I only ask you to go back to reviewing my stuff again. More often. So I can laugh, er, I mean smile watching it again.”

Lina cringes and tries to play it off as a laugh. Instead, she ends up choking on air. Jackson stands up and slaps her on the back. “Woah! Calm down. I was just kidding. Are you ok?”

Lina puts her hands up to ward Jackson back. “I’m fine. I will think about doing other videos in whatever free time I can find.” She says once she can catch her breath.

“Well, if you let the guys who are supposed to do their job actually do it, maybe you’ll have some free time?” Jackson replies snarky.

Lina huffs and rolls her eyes. “I’ll talk to Julie and see what she says.”

“No. You let them do their job and get in trouble when they don’t.” Jackson sternly says. “You don’t need to do everyone’s job for them” he added.

Lina blinks, then stares. She doesn’t know what to say at his tone or the look on his face. She just shrugs.

“Use. Your. Words. I want to hear you say ok.” He slowly lets out.

Lina blinks again, then licks her lips. “Sure, Jackson. I’ll do it.” Jackson smiles at the response and settles down into his chair. “So, are we going to start this interview or what?”

Lina’s mind stops concentrating on what Jackson was saying and grabs her index cards. She smiles thinking about how well versed she is in Jackson’s discography and how she’s seen his growth inside of Got7 and as a solo artist. As she starts off the interview, all her nerves seem to diminish. Jackson has a way about him that makes others feel like they’re just talking to their friend. Lina’s interview is fresh, full of information regarding the multiple projects and a hint at a world tour. They wrap up the interview talking about how Lina became a fan of Jackson’s back during his stint on the different tv shows when Got7 first debuted. Jackson laughs.

“You really supported me from back then! It’s amazing anyone really listened to us.” He stares into the camera and sincerely says “Thank you. All of you who have loved me since then. I really needed to grow up and show you a better Jackson. Thank you for trusting me.”

Lina sighs out loud. “How do you think you deserve any less? You work so hard, Jackson.”

Jackson smiles and replies “I only work to be a better version of myself. Hopefully it shows.”

At that they ended the interview and Jackson smiles as he passes off the mic equipment. “That was fun! Thanks for the great interview. You really seem in your element when you do the interviews. Funny. I figured you’d slip up since you’ve been a fan for a while.” He jokes.

Lina, missing the jab, feels a sting of disappointment and smiles solemnly. “I am a professional first. Fan second.”

Jackson laughs. “Of course, you are. I never would have thought otherwise. Sorry.” He looks around the room and pats his stomach. “Do you have food here? I’m kinda hungry.”

Lina guffaws for a second and pulls up a restaurant nearby on her phone. “If you want something specific, I can order it. Otherwise I’ll pay for lunch if you want to get something from this great restaurant down the street. They make a mean steak.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am spending some time editing what I can so if I need to fix anything, let me know! Please and ty for reading! :)


	3. Intimidation Doesn’t Become You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackson lets his nerves get the best of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really didn't want to break up the restaurant scene so I tried to make it as well as I could. I don't necessarily want the character to get together just yet but I kinda wanna hint there's an attraction? Constructive Criticism always welcomed. Other than that, enjoy!

As they agree to eating at the restaurant, Lina excuses herself to talk to Julie. She usually lets the person she interviews go off onto their other schedules while she breaks down the set up, so she was shocked when Jackson stated he wanted to eat. Possibly with her. No. Definitely with her. Somehow, some way, she was going to go eat with Jackson Wang. She would not let anything ruin this chance so she had to put her foot down. Lina had to get Tom and John off their asses to take everything down. The interns weren’t happy she was bossing them around but Julie agreed with Lina and had the boys get to work.

“So, why are you telling them to finally pull their weight?” Julie looks mildly amused.

Lina can feel the heat go from the pit of her stomach up into her face. “Because Jackson is hungry and as a way of thanking him, I am taking him to the steakhouse down the street.”

When Julie hears what Lina is planning, she smiles. “Oh, hun. Are you sure you’re up for that? You know I would be best to deal with the people on a more ‘one to one’ setting, right? Maybe I-“

Lina puts her hand up. “Jackson asked me so I am going to stick it out and pay for his food and take this time to figure out if there’d be a way to get my foot into another interview or some goodies to raffle off for the station. If I don’t do this, I will never be able to move up, right?”

Tom and John both look at Lina and Julie as Lina cuts Julie off. Feeling put on the spot, Julie smiles and nods. As she turns to walk away she scowls and begins barking orders at the interns.  
  
Lina walks out to the lobby to find Jackson fiddling with his phone. He looked into whatever he was doing, so she took the time to talk to the security guard who witnessed the mishap earlier. They banter back and forth while Jackson is fixated on his phone. He had to finish up some emails for his schedule. He got frustrated at how many times he had to revise what they were doing but he couldn’t say no to lunch. He was hungry. It would be with Lina. As he puts his phone away, Lina is laughing. Jackson fixes his shirt as he looks Lina over.

Her charcoal grey skirt hugs her curves just right. The light pink dress shirt making her look soft and fresh like a cherry blossom tree blooming. Jackson stilled. He was awestruck. Ever since the first video he saw of her reacting to “Girls, Girls, Girls” he thought she was beautiful. She seemed to have an adorable air about her as she gushed over the videos she reacted to. Her cheerful disposition in the videos is what kept him intrigued. He subscribed and had notifications enabled so whenever she uploaded, he could enjoy it. It was like that until she stopped uploading altogether one day. He was in the midst of his group’s comeback. It was a tiring time in his life as he was getting sick often and had to keep going in and out of hospitals to just keep up with his schedule. The last video he saw of Lina’s was her worrying over his health. He didn’t like his fans getting worried because he wanted to push himself and knew it was his own fault for not stopping when needed.

He decided to take his health into consideration from then on, focusing on getting healthy. It took him months of discussions and planning to find his right balances. He was so busy he forgot about watching videos. It wasn’t until late 2016 that he realized Lina didn’t upload for over a year. He looked at the channels she was affiliated with to see if there was a clue as to why she just stopped. Turns out she just became a behind the scenes person for a network of channels on the platform. He kept hoping and wondering when she’d be back to work. He told his people if the company ever reached out for interviews, that he would take the call. He wanted to make sure he got Lina to interview him. Even if she does behind the scenes stuff now, he always wanted to talk to her. And if this is his only way, he was going to make damn sure he got it.

Jackson is pulled out of his thoughts when Lina tells him she’s ready to walk down to the restaurant. He smiles at her and holds the door open for her to walk through. She smiles politely as she walks past him to go outside. Jackson tries to get his head focused on walking with her. His security guard was waiting outside for them. Jackson takes a moment to talk to him about where they were going and how close he should follow. He was hoping that because they were in a busy area, it would be harder for people to recognize him. Especially walking in the middle of the day here.

He puts on his sunglasses and starts to walk up to Lina when he pauses. He’s taken aback by the intensity that Lina is staring at him. He quirks an eyebrow in question to her but Lina seems to be stuck where she’s at. Jackson looks around to make sure she wasn’t staring at anyone else when he hears her clear her throat.

“I’m sorry. It’s not everyday I get to get out at this time. The sun felt so warm that I just got lost in thought.”

She chuckles and Jackson can see the blush creep up her throat. He licks his lips as his mind flashes with a thought of how he would love to know how she tasted. After taking a breath in to clear his head, he says “Well, we’re out here now. Where to?”

They get to the restaurant within 10 minutes of walking. Thankfully, it wasn’t too far away and it was during the end of the lunch rush so there would be less people at the restaurant than she is accustomed to. As she reaches for the handle of the door, she feels Jackson right behind her. His hand grazes hers as he reaches the door handle before her. He holds the door open so she can walk in first.

“Ladies first, always.” He stated nonchalantly. Jackson seemed relieved to get inside the restaurant. Lina was annoyed by his machismo ideal but decided to let it slide. She knows he’s just a gentleman and doesn’t mean any harm, but her independent mindset was displeased at how easy it was for her to let him treat her this way. She quietly sighs to herself as she walks up to the podium where the host is waiting to seat people.

“Hey, Bobby. I made a reservation for 2 a few minutes ago.”

Bobby, the host, smiles and says “wow you actually have someone with you today? Who’s the hottie?”

Lina’s eyes go wide as she silently shushes the man. “Just get us to our seats, ok?” she whispers abruptly.

Bobby smiles and sees them off to a table with 2 seats nearest the wall on the opposite side of the restaurant. “We made sure to put you out of the way like you asked us to. No one should bother you here” Bobby says as he winks at Lina and puts the menus down on the freshly pressed linen lined table. “Tess should be out with some water for you all in a minute” he says as he bows.

As Bobby is walking away, Jackson looks to Lina quizzically. “You come here that often that you know the employees?” He spits out in wonder.

Lina seems caught off guard before she gushes about the restaurant. “This is my favorite place to eat. They are open pretty early considering how late they stay open. I can eat lunch and dinner here if I wanted to. I have before. But I enjoy the company that is kept here. My friend owns the restaurant so it’s not so bad.” She smiles to Jackson.

Jackson perks up when he hears that the restaurant belongs to a friend. “Oh, a friend? Where is she? Can I meet her?” he asks.

Lina laughs at his assumptions. Just then Tess comes out of the kitchen with 2 lightly iced waters for them. Tess smiles at Lina and looks to Jackson with a start. “You’re….You…” she stumbles. “I’m sorry but I am a huge fan!” She exclaims. Tess looks at Lina in shock. “You brought Jackson here?! Why didn’t you text me?!”

Lina laughs. “I never know when or who is working, so I didn’t bother. Plus, this was last minute. He was hungry.” She smiles towards Jackson. “We’ll have my usual, please. Medium Rare, right?” she states. Jackson, startled, just nods and smiles at Tess. He reaches out to Tess and leans into her so she can hear him order wine to go with the meal. Tess nods and walks over to the kitchen, leaving the two to their own device.

“You know it’s the middle of the day, right? Drinking now seems weird.” Lina smirks.

Jackson responds thoughtfully. “I figured it would help ease the tension. You know as nervous as you probably are I am too.”

Lina’s eyes go wide in awe. “You’ve gotta be kidding. You? Nervous? Why?” she asks him abruptly.

Jackson shrugs. “It’s been a while since I sat at a restaurant with a woman. Let alone one as beautiful as you are.” He says slyly.

Lina starts to feel the blush creep up her face and smiles. “Oh. I. Uh.” Is all she can manage to get out before Tess brings out the wine.

Lina engulfs her wine as fast as possible to hide her embarrassment. Jackson laughs. “Oh, it’s about time I made you speechless. I guess you really are a professional on the clock.” He takes a sip of his wine as Lina clears her glass of all its contents. “So, do I get to meet your friend or what?” he asks.

Lina looks at him seriously. “You really want to meet this friend? What if they’re not what you’re expecting?” Lina relents.

Jackson thinks for a moment and shrugs. “They can’t possibly be all that bad if they’re your friend” he says.

“Well now, I hope she doesn’t think I’m bad at all” a deep voice says. Jackson turns in his seat to see a rather large man behind him. He stands up to get a good look at the man. He’s at least 6 feet tall. His hair peppered and cut in a short but fresh look. The man’s skin is a smooth caramel color and his arms are muscular. As Jackson looks up to him, he sees a navy blue polo shirt that seems too tight for the rather large frame of the man. _He must live in the gym_ Jackson thinks to himself. He looks up to the man’s face. The hazel green eyes look down to him and he smiles. The man puts out a hand in greeting. Jackson immediately grabs the hand and shakes it in greeting.

He gulps as he looks the man over. The neatly trimmed beard and glasses add to the more refined gentleman look he has going on. Jackson feels a little intimidated as he lets go of the hand and turns to Lina in shock. “Uh, yeah. This is Chester. He’s my friend.” She smiles as she gets up to hug the older man.

Jackson stares in awe as he watches everything that’s happening. Chester lets out a deep chuckle and pats Jackson on the back. “You’d think I told him Santa wasn’t real!” he says lightly. “Oh, man. This is gonna be fun.” Chester smiles wide and Jackson notices how bright his overall demeanor is when he smiles. He’s definitely not used to men like him being friends with women like Lina unless… “Are you sure you are friends?” he asks.

Lina looks at Jackson, then to Chester. Chester looks to Lina and smiles softly. “If that’s what she’s told you we are, who am I to disagree?” he pats Jackson on the back, tells them to enjoy their meal, and walks away.

Lina feels nervous still and motions for another glass of wine. Tess comes out with the bottle to refill the glass and offers to fill Jacksons. He nods and wait for her to walk away before starting the conversations again. “You’re friends with that?!” He asks astonishingly. Lina lets out a short laugh and looks Jackson over. “You heard him. If that’s what I said, that’s what we are. Why, Jackson? Can’t men and women be friends?” Lina inquires. She gets tired of the probing into her friendships easily. If it’s not from family and friends, it’s now coming from her interviewee. “I think it’s best not to go too deep in my personal life, Jackson. I don’t think you’re readily available for that.” She states before taking another sip of wine. Tess brings the food out and before Jackson can further put his foot in his mouth, he nods a thank you to Tess and begins eating.

Lina started her lunch quietly. She didn’t know how to let Jackson know she didn’t mean to be so curt, but she doesn’t enjoy people prying into her affairs. Especially when it came to Chester. She really had to think about her relationship with him and knowing that not everyone would understand, she really didn’t refer to him as anything more than a friend. “Jackson. I’m sorry. I know… Well I know I was snippy. The last thing I would want to do is make you feel uneasy. But my relationship with Chester is…” She looks over to Chester to see him working on orders with the head. She looks back to Jackson and lowers her eyes to her food.

“It’s complicated.” She looks back up to see Jackson staring at her softly.

He seems concerned but doesn’t push it. “I get it. You don’t have to explain anything. It’s not my place. I just always thought you were single” he scoffs before taking another bite of his steak. “I was foolish to think someone like you would be single.” He raises his wine glass to his lips.

Lina stares at the glass touching his lips as she tries to understand what he was implying. “What do you mean ‘someone like me’? I am single. Look, it’s complicated. And I’d rather not discuss it.” She pauses and looks around. Seeing that they were alone she leans in and whispers “not openly anyway.” She sits up straight and finishes her steamed vegetables while Jackson finishes off his steak.

Jackson nods while wiping his face clean. As he puts down the napkin, he says “Well what time do you get off? Would you like to eat dinner with me? I have to make up for this screw up.”

Lina blinks in surprise. “You want to have dinner. With me?” she says as the blush returns to her cheeks.

Jackson smiles as he sees her embarrassment and nods. “Of course. I wouldn’t want you to leave me thinking I am rude.” Lina takes the last sip of her wine and raises her hand for the check.

Tess comes from the back looking flustered. “Well, Lina. Boss says you’ll just have to pay him back later.” She leans into Lina’s ear and whispers “he said for you to call him after work or else.” Tess stands back up and quickly walks away.

Lina looks over to Chester and finds he’s smiling at her. She takes a deep breath in and looks at Jackson. “Well, now I don’t know if I am free. But give me your phone, unlocked please.”

She holds out her hand for it. Jackson looks back over his shoulder to Chester and sees him just finishing up talking to the Chef. He reaches for his phone, input his lock, and gives it to Lina. Lina takes the phone and smiles at Jackson.

“If anything, we can text. If we can’t meet tonight, maybe another day before you leave? How long are you here for?” she tries to not sound too sad. She really wants to spend as much time as possible with Jackson. Chester, however, is trying to make it difficult.

“Oh! Okay. Well I am here for at least the next two weeks. I’m working on some music and doing interviews on both coasts.” He says as he starts typing on his phone. A few seconds later, Lina feels her own phone vibrate with a text from Jackson. She smiles and looks up to him to see he’s checking his phone again.

She sighs as she stands up from the table. “Well, it was wonderful talking to you. I really am sorry for the hiccup earlier.”

He looks at her, smiles and nods. “It’s fine. I hope to hear from you soon.” He looks at her once more as she walks away. He finishes up his email, stands up, and looks at Chester. Chester smiles at him and waves. Jackson quirks an eyebrow before he heads out of the restaurant.


	4. You Want What?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lina is seriously considering how to finish her editing without daydreaming about Jackson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still trying to get into writing our the scenarios and the speaking parts. Thanks for reading!

Lina comes back to the office flushed and looks at the security guard. He laughs at her as she passes him to the elevator. Lina never would have believed what just had someone else experienced it. Yet it was her. She had Jackson feeling uneasy. She told him not to pry into her life. She pushed him away before he could even tiptoe inside her life. She lifts her hands up to her head to try to steady herself. Or so she tells herself that’s what will help. She feels dizzy. Her chest is tight. How the hell could she act like that? What did she expect when Chester just showed up. He told her to come by for lunch if she was hungry. He wouldn’t have been in until the dinner rush but wanted to make sure she ate well enough. She didn’t expect it. And now she’s going to have to explain why she brought a man to his restaurant. Not like he ever said it wasn’t allowed but it’s odd to have him meet the man of your dreams. Especially since he’s the one fucking her into bliss every now and again.  
  
As the elevator doors open to her floor, she sees Julie in the hallway, seemingly impatient for one reason or another. As Julie hears the elevator she turns to see Lina flushed. She scowls at Lina. “You just had to run off for lunch, hmm? Jerry nearly ripped my head off because Tom dropped a light. For fuck’s sake, Lina. How could you put me on the spot like that?”

Lina sighs. “I’m sorry Jules. I’ll replace it. Tell them to just grab the wires.”

Julie stops her “I already took it all down. And yes, you will pay for the light. Don’t let it happen again.”

Lina stops and looks at Julie. “But my job is to interview and edit videos, Jules. Why can’t they do their fucking job?” Julie looks at Lina with fury in her eyes. “The only reason those two dipshits have the job is because they’re Jerry’s nephews. Don’t get me started. Look. I depend on you because you’re competent. They are not. The least you can do is make sure they don’t break shit.” She looks over to the men who are laughing and talking with Jerry. Lina takes a deep breath in and lets it out slowly. She needs to get the hell out of this place. One way or another, she needs to get out.

Just how does she do that without causing a fuss with the family? “You’re so lucky Jules looks out for you. She got you that job! You should what you can to keep it! It’s the least you could do after all she has done!” Her parents always gave her the same spiel anytime the job came up.

She wants to move out on her own and be successful, but she has spent the last 3 years under Julie’s thumb. And she really would love nothing more than to tell her to fuck off. But when her channel was dying, Julie did get her a contract with her boss, even though she knew the boss 6 months before she introduced Julie to him.

She shakes her head and walks off to the room where the interview was. She left her change of clothes in a bag in there. As she picks up her bag, she’s reminded of the morning and cringes. She rushes off to the bathroom to clean herself off and to put her sweats back on. Now she has to export the interview footage to her computer so she can edit and upload it on the channel. Her boss will expect to be able to review it by Monday, so she wants to get a head start on it.

As she gets to her desk, she sees a note. It’s from the secretary of the station. “Jackson left a message saying thank you for lunch and the interview.” She looks at the paper puzzled. _He has my number. Why didn’t he just text me that?_ “Well, looks like you did splendidly with that interview, Angelina. Can’t wait to see how it turned out.” Jerry says from behind her. She turns to him to respond but just nods. _I guess it wasn’t for me to see. Thanks, Jackson_.

After 5 hours her interview is finally ready to edit. She keeps a copy of the interview on a hard drive as well as on her laptop. She decides to take her laptop home with her to work on the interview. As she gathers her things to leave, she feels her phone vibrate.

** _Are you coming by the restaurant? Or are you going to go see your boy toy?_ **

She reads the message. _Ugh. Why the hell does he do this to me? _She responds to him stating she needed to finish her edit this weekend so she can’t meet with him.

**_I will allow it this time. But I expect you to be ready next weekend. Saturday, 6 pm. My place. You in your spot. Not a minute late, understood?_**

Lina sighs. Sometimes, Chester can be a bit pushy but she can’t complain. It’s been a few weeks since she has had any time to play. She needs to get out of her work for a night and agrees to the arrangement. As she goes to put her phone away, she gets another text. This time, it’s Jackson.

** _I know you’re busy with work so I won’t bother you tonight. I hope to hear from you soon._ **

She blushes. She responds to him with the same response she gave Chester earlier. It’s the truth and she honestly just wants to get it done.

**_I have some time Sunday morning if you are available. Maybe we can take a walk? Go out for breakfast? _ **

Her eyes go wide as she ponders what Jackson looks like as he wakes up. His scruff visible from not shaving, his hair a mess. But his beautiful chocolate brown eyes looking at her, smiling. She can feel the warmth spread throughout her body. _Fuck. Damnit. Ok. _She quickly responds to him that she’ll meet him for breakfast, as long as he picked a place that served waffles and mimosas.

She spends the rest of the night trying to focus on the editing of the interview but her minds goes back to Jackson and Chester. She feels ashamed to think that she would be able to get away with bringing her favorite idol to her favorite restaurant. Because the restaurant was her favorite place to eat. She didn’t know Chester when she first started going to the restaurant. All she knew was the best steak she’s ever had is from there and since she really didn’t need to pay for big ticket items like rent at the moment, she liked to treat herself weekly to her favorite meal. It wasn’t until a rather rough day in the office that Chester made himself known to Lina. It was just as they opened for the day, and Lina was beyond stressed about a deadline her cousin forgot to tell her about. She figured she’d be spending the rest of her week scrambling around for it, and wanted to get one last amazing meal under her belt before digging her heels into her work that was piling up as she was waiting for the restaurant to open.

He was the one to open the doors. She never saw him before so she was jolted out of her thoughts by this extraordinarily beautiful man. His hair had more black than grey at that time. Seems like forever ago she met him. He was kind to her and even sat with her as she ate. He didn’t pry too much into her life but enjoyed her company. After that day, she looked for him when she’d stop in to eat. It wasn’t long before she ended up in his bed. He was attentive and wonderful the first time they were together.

The month afterward was a dreamy cloud of learning what she wanted from him, and how he was willing to be the safe space she would go to when she needed to not think of her life. Being her first Dom, he would ease her into the world of BDSM.

Although at the time he really didn’t want to add anymore stress to his life with a youngling girlfriend, he did enjoy being the one in control of her pleasure. He made her aware of the no strings rule he usually makes his subs adhere to. She was perfectly ok with not mixing business with pleasure. She had just gotten out of a long term relationship and she didn’t need complicated in her life.

That was two years ago. She can’t believe it’s already been two years. She would look forward to the weekend when she could just focus on the two of them and not on work. He made it pretty easy to not think about work. Especially after the first few visits. He would punish her any time he sensed her thoughts wandering. Although she enjoyed some pain here and there, she didn’t enjoy those sessions where she left more frustrated than she went into it with. But it worked. Now, every time she went to his place, she’d empty her mind of work and focus on what was happening then and there.   
  
Lina sighs as she thinks about the first encounter with Chester. She gets up to put on some lo-fi hip hop to help her get back to concentrating on the work at hand.

With a cup of espresso in hand, she spends the better part of the night into the morning working on the edit. After a cat nap, she would continue into her day editing. She loved watching Jackson smile and look at her. She didn’t look too bad, if she was going to critique herself.

She knew she wanted to look her best for him, and by the way he looks at her, she did a pretty good job. _Jackson thinks I’m beautiful. And now I can see it._ She blushes thinking about Jackson calling her beautiful. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears. Lina gets up from her spot on her bed to get a cold glass of water.

She feels flushed and not entirely focused on editing the interview. She can’t let this get to her. She’s a professional woman. Who has a deadline to meet. And cannot be bothered to stop thinking about how Jackson looked that day. _I mean, it’s pretty hard not to since I have to stare at him while editing._

She thinks of how the dark red matched his skin so beautifully. His skin. She thinks of how smooth his skin from his chest to his chin was. And how all she wanted to do was to pepper it with kisses. All she wanted at that moment was for Jackson to praise her while she sat in his lap.

Lina shuts her eyes tightly as she focuses on her breathing. _Can’t lose focus. Not now. Not while I’m so close to finishing this edit. _Lina goes to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of ice cold water. As she takes a sip, she focuses on the cold making it’s way down her throat and into her stomach. _I hope that cancels out the heat emanating from there_. She looks down at her torso, feeling her need go from insistent to calm after a few more sips of water.

When she finally feels like she can get back to editing, her phone buzzes. Lina huffs in frustration and looks to see who texted her. It was Chester, making sure she ate in the middle of her editing. He knew her well enough to know she’d skip a meal or five while editing. She sighs and decides to make herself breakfast so she can show him she’s eating. She knew he wouldn’t be satisfied with just answering him. Because she’s lied to him before about eating. And now he asks for pics with certain things in it to prove she’s actually eating. And just as she finishes making her food, he sends another text telling her to add a glass of juice and to make a funny face with a peace sign in the pic. He always finds a way to make her smile. She appreciates him caring but keeping boundaries in place. It has made life easier to deal with. As she takes the pic and sends it to him, she decides to tell him about Jackson offering to take her to breakfast on Sunday and hopes that because she’s eating, that it wasn’t going to make him mad. Chester tells her it’s fine, that she should enjoy her boy toy while he’s in town. Lina rolls her eyes and finishes eating her meal. She had enough of a break to get back to editing.  
  
Lina takes the better part of her day to complete the editing. She knows her boss will also expect her to come up with captions to the video. After a break she gets back to the grind. She hopes that completing the video early enough would get her some brownie points with the boss. Especially after the light fiasco. Her parents ask what she is doing that is keeping her in her room all day except for meals. “Work” is all she’ll say as she makes her way from the kitchen back to her room. She really wouldn’t mind having a place of her own but also enjoys the freedom to do what she pleases with her money. She’s not stupid with her expenses but she enjoys splurging on concert tickets when she can and the occasional amazing meal. She refused to allow Chester to comp her meals. Just because she’s sleeping with him doesn’t mean she’s entitled to anything. Chester admired her pride to a fault. He didn’t push it but enjoyed when she came to eat.

She plops down on her window bench to continue working. She figured some sunlight would help her to work faster. Lina puts on headphones so she could transcribe the whole ordeal. It was easier for her to focus on the voices. She closed her eyes and hit play on the video. As soon as she heard Jackson’s voice she paused the video. _Oh. Oh no. Can I get through this? His voice.._

She thinks about how wonderful his voice sounded in person. But somehow listening to it in the playback hit differently. _I am seriously screwed if I can’t focus. Maybe if I sleep?_ Lina contemplates what her next move is when her phone rings. She jumps as she’s pulled out of her thoughts and looks down to her phone to see it’s Jackson. _Fuck._

Lina hits the answer button. “Hello?” she says softly. She doesn’t want to fuck this up again.

“Hi. I was wondering how editing was going.” He says in a gravelly voice.

He sounds like he just woke up himself. She looks at the time to see its past lunchtime. “It’s…Well? It’s going okay. I was just contemplating on whether or not I should go to sleep.” She chuckles. “I spent most of my night and morning editing. I just need to transcribe the conversation and then I can send it off to the boss. How are you? You sound like you just woke up.”

It was his turn to chuckle. “I was up all night too. I have a hard time adjusting to the time difference sometimes. I’ll be fine for tomorrow though. That is, if you’re still wanting to meet up. I am staying at a hotel that has pretty good waffles. I also checked to make sure they were willing to give out mimosas in the morning. They do.” He laughs again.

Lina smiles thinking he’s put in effort to make sure she’d come to breakfast. “I will be there. Just send me the address and what time you want to meet.” She says lightly.

He grunts and sounds like he’s moving. There’s some rustling and finally he clears his throat. “I can get that info to you. Sure. I can’t wait to see you. Good luck on the video.” He throws the last part in quickly before he hangs up.

She’s shocked by how fast he hung up. She was hoping to talk to him for a bit more. As she pulls the phone away from her ear, it vibrates. He sent her a message.

** _Sorry. I didn’t mean to hang up like that but my manager came in. Here’s the info_ ** _._

As she finishes reading the message another one pops up with the hotel information and the time of 7 am. _What?! That’s so damn early. Ok Lina. We got this._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly need them to work faster in getting to the nitty gritty but I also don't want to rush it? IDK. I hope you enjoyed!


	5. A Much Needed Distraction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lina and Jackson have an open conversation with a side of flirting?

Lina finishes up her work by dinner time with tomorrow as a much needed incentive. _I’ll be at his hotel. Eating breakfast with him. Oh, geez. I don’t know how I’m gonna keep it together._ She barely touches dinner when her mother calls her to the table.

“Honey, why aren’t you eating? I thought you liked my meatloaf?” her mother laments.

“Mom, I am fine. I just am nervous about this deadline. I’ll be fine. I’ll just put it up and if I get hungry later on I’ll eat it. I promise.” She explains.

“Ok, dear. You’re just so skinny as it is.” Her mother nags. Of course, moms will think the best of their kids. However, Lina doesn’t feel incredible skinny at the moment.

She walks into her bedroom and sighs. It’s not her time of the month but she feels bloated. Maybe it was the wine? She’s not sure. She looks at herself in the mirror. She sees her curves are larger than they were just a few months ago. _I need to get back into working out. This flab of skin needs to go away. How am I supposed to go to this breakfast tomorrow looking like this?_ Lina sighs. _It’s not like I am planning on getting laid. But I should take into consideration what to wear, right? I mean, it’s Jackson. _

She looks to her closet and walks in to find an outfit. She picks out a red, flowy blouse that makes her skin look like it’s glowing. Knowing Jackson is a fan of red, she goes to her underwear drawer looking for a set of lingerie to match. _Of course this is just to feel sexy. Not even thinking of him bringing me up to his room. _She tells herself. She doesn’t want to get her hopes up too much. Her blouse would cling to her curves enough to make them pronounce but not so much that you can see the lines of her undergarments, so she’s confident it would be the best choice. She looks to her bottoms to see what she should wear with the shirt. After contemplating for what feels like hours, she settles on a pair of light washed cropped distressed jeans.

She is reminded of when she bought the jeans. She was looking for an outfit to go out in after her break up. Her friends went with her to pick out the outfit at the mall. Once she stepped out of the dressing room with the pants on, they demanded she buy them. “These are ‘fuck me’ jeans” her bff, Nikki says. “Yeah, Lina. If you want to get laid those are the jeans” Megan chimes in.

_But he won’t. Will he?_ She contemplates. She decides to try her luck and wear the jeans with her red blouse and some subtle jewelry. She looks at her shoes and decides to go with her white adidas. Again, not make Jackson too weary about his height. She wants this breakfast to go as well as it can and is willing to do whatever she can to make it a pleasant time together. She figures that she will have to get up early to get ready, so she takes her shower and readies herself to go to sleep. When she lays her head down, she checks her phone one more time. It’s nearly 10 pm and she’s not sure how she’s going to sleep. She can’t stop thinking about how Jackson smells. How he must taste. How much her need for him has taken over any and all thoughts now. _Damn it. If I don’t sleep I will look horrible._ She opens her meditation app and does her meditation before sleep. She only uses the app when she’s in desperate need of sleep, so she knows it’ll work. And within minutes, she’s asleep.

Her alarm goes off in what feels like minutes but it’s been hours. She looks at the time. 4:45 am. _Crap. It’s ok though. I need to get ready and I want to make sure I look the part I’m going for._ She tries to swallow her nerves down before heading to the restroom. Lina looks at herself in the mirror and notices she isn’t as puffy as she felt the day previously. _Good. Last thing I need is bloating today. _She cleans her face and brushes her teeth before heading back to her room to finish getting ready.

Lina looks flawless. Her makeup is light but enough to make it look like she put effort into it. _I put too much effort into this_. She thinks to herself. She keeps her hair down in soft waves. The honey colored streaks in her hair look like specs of sun in her soft brown hair. Her lips are stained pink so she can eat without worrying about her lipstick wearing off. She put on her gold necklace her mother gave her for graduation a few years ago. Her bracelet from Nikki, and a ring on her middle finger she got from her dad for her birthday. She finishes it all off with her almost-too-big-but-looks-good sunglasses and her gold watch. She’s happy with what she looks like. The time is 6:15. She’s thankful that she got up when she did. It’s going to take at least 30 minutes to get to this hotel and she doesn’t want to be late. Or too early.

_UGH! I am freaking out again. It’s fine, Lina. We’ll be fine. It’s just breakfast. _She tells herself. She opens the taxi app to get a car for the ride. It takes 10 minutes to get to her house so now she’s hoping they’ll get there on time. She decides to text Jackson to let him know she’s on here way and should be there just before 7. He replies with **_Ok _****_😊_****. **Her stomach does a flip or two at the smiley face he added to the text. She honestly hopes she doesn’t fuck up today.

Once the car arrives at the hotel, Lina feels her legs go numb. Her stomach flips and she feels a tightness in her chest. She’s afraid to take her anxiety meds with mimosas so she didn’t pack any. She knows she’s got a problem with anxiety but she’s been pretty good since finding Chester in controlling it. He pushed her to start therapy with a friend of his and she took up the offer. She spent a good year getting to where she is now in life, and she knows she has a long way to go.

_But that’s for another time. I can’t start thinking about Chester right now. Or therapy. Shit. Ok. One step at a time, Lina. You did good picking out sneakers. You shouldn’t fall on your face if you stumble._ She chuckles to herself. As she gets out of the car, she sees Jackson’s bodyguard. He’s waiting for her at the entrance of the hotel. Lina wonders where Jackson would be if not waiting for her. As soon as the guard sees her, he whispers into his phone and walks up to the car.

“Ms. Angelina. Jackson is waiting for you at a table. I’ll walk you in.” The guard seems curt and to the point. Lina isn’t too fazed by it but decides to reply. “Thank you, sir? I don’t know your name. I’m sorry. What can I call you?” The guard looks her over and looks puzzled before responding. “Uh, Johnny. Thanks for asking. Women usually don’t ask. They usually are focused on Jackson.” He smiles softly. _Oh. I’m not the only one he’s seen like this. I should’ve expected that I am nothing special but I didn’t expect it to be so often the guard notices who he talks to._ Lina deflates a bit at this thought.

As she walks towards Jackson, she sees him stand up. He looks like he just took a shower. He’s shaved as well. He smells like a forest after the rain. He’s wearing a tracksuit with a beanie. Red, of course. She smiles at this thought. She looks at him and feels confused.

He’s standing there, staring at her. He looks like a kid who just got caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar. She stops smiling and looks at Jackson quizzically. Jackson blinks and drags his hands down his jacket. He licks his lips and looks up to her. Smiling, he says “Had I known you were going to go all out I would have too. I thought this would be pretty early so you’d be more..” He gestures to her. He moves his hands in an up and down motion before he stands with his hands crossed over his chest. “Not this. That’s for sure. You sure know how to make a man feel….” He trails off.

Lina is shocked at his candor. She looks down at her outfit and thought she wasn’t over dressed. “I didn’t think this would seem so out there as far as outfits go. I mean I am even wearing sneakers, Jackson.” She blurts out.

He looks her up and down as he says, “I know, Lina. But it just hits differently on you.”   
  
Lina narrows her eyes and replies “I bet you say that to all the girls you eat out with.” She was mentally kicking herself as he looks shocked at her sudden accusation.

“I. No. Well, maybe a few of them.” He shrugs. Lina feels the sting of embarrassment.

“Well, I don’t know what you expected out of this but I am not a woman who does one night stands. Let alone fucking someone before they start their day” she crosses her arms under her breast.

Jackson sucks in air audibly. “Well, good thing I am not expecting anything more than breakfast, huh. You think I’d dress like this if I wanted sex?” He chuckles at the thought. “Though, you do look delicious. I think you’re worth more than the hour I have before meetings.” He adds.

Lina’s head shoots up and she looks at him with shock. “I. Wait. Ok.” She sits down and gets her bearings. “Look, I know you called me beautiful before but I thought maybe you were just being nice. Like now. Offering breakfast as a way to pay back for yesterday, which you didn’t have to do.” She grabs the flute of mimosa that the waiter just brought over. She takes a large sip before looking back to Jackson.

He’s smiling as he watches her. “I was hoping that this would be a quieter place for you to tell me who Chester is to you. You know, because you couldn’t speak about it yesterday. I find you intriguing. You’ve always been cute to me but now. Well, I met you in person and I just wanna get to know you. Is that okay?” He looks at her like a lost puppy.

She melts from his gaze. “I. Uh. Yeah. Okay.” She starts to play with her hair and bites on her lip. “Oh no. Don’t do that.” Jackson say curtly. “Unless you want to take this upstairs, please refrain from taunting me.”

Lina smiles and responds. “I honestly wasn’t trying to-“ He puts up his hand to stop her and says “Don’t go off topic. Who is Chester to you?”

The waitress comes in at this moment. Lina is thankful but before she can speak, Jackson tells her “Waffles for the lady and a fruit salad with egg whites for me.” Lina stares at Jackson for interjecting. She’s used to Chester being forward but that’s it. All the other guys in her life either ignore her or aren’t her type. She was ok with that. Thinking about her past relationship made her realize how much she wanted to be single for a while.

She looked at the waitress and adds a fruit topping to her waffles and a coffee. “I got some sleep but it won’t stop me from drinking coffee.” She states as Jackson looks at her quizzically.

Jackson waits patiently as Lina gets her coffee as sweet and creamy as she likes it. She takes 2 or 3 sips before putting the cup down and looks at Jackson sternly. “If you really need to know, he’s my dom.”

She shifts in her chair as he registers what she says. He’s not entirely sure he understands what she said so he asks her to repeat herself. She sighs and says it again, this time a little louder so he can’t say he didn’t hear it. Jackson looks perplexed. He wasn’t sure what a dom was 100% but knew they did things to control their significant others… Significant….Others? “But you said he’s a friend. You’re not dating him?” he asks her softly.

He doesn’t want her to close down the conversation before he can find out more. The waitress comes out with their food and more mimosas. Lina thanks the waitress quietly and leans into Jackson to reply. “Listen. This is still pretty-“ she looks around “pretty public. But you are correct. We don’t date. He is not my partner. Just my dom. It’s hard to explain in this setting.” She fidgets in her chair again. She was hoping to not think about Chester at this point but Jackson seemed adamant to know exactly where he stood in her life. If only Jackson knew how fast she’d drop people for him. She shakes her head slightly. She can’t think that way. That’s how her last relationship started. She can’t. She won’t.   
  
Jackson sits in silence while eating his fruit salad and egg whites. She sighs and starts to eat her own food. Jackson looks off into the distance for some time, taking a few sips of his mimosa. He’s only on his second while Lina is on her fourth. He looks at her carefully for a moment before he speaks. His voice calm but firm. “I’m confused but am willing to have an open conversation about this. As long as you’re willing to be transparent with me.” He checks his watch. “I have maybe another hour before I have to leave. If you want to go somewhere that’s quieter, we can take a walk on the roof. I’ve gone up there a few times to clear my head. It’s definitely quiet up there.” He wipes his mouth after he finishes his meal. Lina swallows and decides now would be the best time to get this out there. _Ok. It’s fine. We’re ok. Just talk to him. Be transparent. All you have to lose is Jackson. Which you don’t have at this point anyway, Lina._ She nods after arguing with herself as he pays the check. Jackson gets up and offers Lina his hand. She takes it and they go to the elevator to go up to the roof.  
  


They reach the last level of the hotel the elevator goes to, and from there they take the staircase up as Johnny waits at the stairs while watching them. It’s weird but Lina gets why he’s on top of Jackson like this. Too many crazed fans. They walks until they get to the side with a rail. Looking over the city was amazing, the sun’s rays were peeking through the clouds, making the morning light seem hazy. She leans onto the railing before looking back at Jackson. Jackson smiles and says “I have wanted to meet you for so long. You are extremely cute in your videos. And I thought ‘if I just meet her, I’ll be ok.’ And then I met you and realized I didn’t want to leave you. It’s funny.” He leans onto the railing now, then looks over to Lina. He turns so his body faces hers. He lifts his hand to her hair and brushes it out of her face. “You’re amazing, Lina.” He looks into her eyes then. She is frozen in place. She felt unworthy of his stare.

She looked down because his gaze was making her uncomfortable. He places his palm softly on her cheek and directs her face so she can meet his gaze again. “Please don’t feel ashamed. Whatever it is, tell me. I’d like to know.”

She looked into his soft brown eyes and decided to tell him. She told him the story about how she found Chester and why he was who she turned to for relief. She needed a place to not think. And not be asked 100 questions. She needed quiet and he gave it to her.

Jackson soaked in all the information, nodding from time to time. “It’s interesting to see someone being intimate with someone else they’re not looking to marry. I mean, in the way you are with Chester. And you’re sure he feels the same?” He inquires. She nods explaining their deal and what they both get out of it. It took some time to get comfortable enough with Chester, but she’s not ashamed of what she has with him. Jackson can see her confidence come back to her the more she describes it to him. He is pleased with how easy she seems to be with the information. He smiles as she finishes explaining.

He looks at her and nods his head. “I get it. I do. It makes more sense now. Thank you for telling me.” He looks at his watch. “I have 15 minutes left before I really need to get going. I would love to see you again. Maybe for dinner? This time I promise to dress up.” He smiles.

He looks Lina over before brushing her hair over her shoulder. She feels shocks everywhere his hands touch her. It’s driving her crazy. She wants nothing more than to go to his room at this point in time. But he has work. “Why are you working on a Sunday?” she asks.

He sighs and stretches. “I mean, is it really work?” He pulls out his phone to check his schedule. “I have to talk to my manager and go over some things with my album and then have a conversation with my manager from Got7. I was gonna work out before Lunch and another rest before I go back to the studio and work on another song. I don’t know how long it’ll take.” He looks up to see Lina looking intensely at him. He clears his throat. “Well, I would love to see you for dinner then.”

She smiles, pulling out her own phone, she opens the taxi app and orders a car for herself. “Just tell me when and where and I’ll be there.” She looks up and smiles at him.

He smiles back and nods before leading her back down the stairs to the elevator. “You don’t have to follow me down. I can find the lobby on my own.” She says.

He looks at her and shakes his head. “I have to see you off. I need to imprint this look into my memory.” He says sheepishly.

She laughs and enters the elevator with Jackson behind her. He presses the button for the lobby and waits for the doors to close before he starts again. “I will try my damndest to get work done in time for dinner. I can’t wait to see what you wear then.” Lina laughs as Jackson pulls her hand up to his lips. He slowly kisses her hand and looks up to her. She feels the warmth bloom in her stomach again. And her throat goes dry. All of a sudden, the air was too thick. She was too hot. She looked at Jackson as the kiss turns into a smile before he straightens up and the elevator doors open. She walks out to the lobby and sees her car is already waiting for her.

She waves to Jackson while he just stands there watching her. After a few seconds he calls out to her. As she turns around she sees him waving. She smiles and waves again. He winks to her before he goes back into the elevator. He rubs his hand together and licks his lips again while looking at her before the doors close. Lina watches the doors close as she catches her breath. ‘_Oh I’m not a one night stand bitch.’ You say. ‘I don’t fuck just anyone’ you say. Yet here you are, wanting to run up to his room like a fucking lovesick puppy. _ She scolds herself. This cannot turn into a one night thing. If she has Jackson, she needs him more than once. She swallows, starts for the car, and tries to get her mind off of Jackson.

Lina’s phone buzz once she arrives home. She’s over talking to anyone at the moment, and really would rather not have to do any more explaining to anyone about anything. She tosses her phone onto her desk. She changes back into her sweats so she could breathe. As sexy as the lingerie is, it doesn’t leave much room for comfort. She enjoys wearing it from time to time but it’s really not something she wants to wear 24/7.

Lina flopped onto her bed and told her home device to play soft music to keep her mind calm. All she can think about at the moment is Jackson’s touch. How warm his hand was. How fresh he smelled. How good he looked and felt. She buries her head into her pillow and screams. Not knowing if she actually will have dinner with him, she looks at the time. It’s only 10 am. She gets off her bed and grabs her phone to set an alarm when she is reminded someone texted her. It was Chester.

** _How was breakfast? I hope he was nothing short of gentlemanly. Knowing you, he better be. The control you tend to have outside of your work is next to none. Lol_ **

** **

Lina was fuming. She hates being called out, especially by him. She decides to call him to curse him out. When he answers her mind goes blank. “Hello? Lina? You meant to call, correct?” He pauses for a moment. “Ok, look. I was just poking fun. I do wish you had fun though. If not for yourself, for me. You deserve it Lina.” He says sweetly.

Lina hates when he can read her before she has the chance to collect her thoughts. He has been doing it more lately and it’s starting to bug her. “Listen, Chester. I don’t care for you checking up on me like this about things that don’t concern you. You know I don’t. So why are you insisting I talk to you about this?” This time, Chester is quiet. She knows she pushed his button. But she felt like he needed to drop a peg or two down off his pedestal. “I will see you next weekend. Let’s leave it at that, ok?” Lina tries to be soft but stern with her words. She feels like she’s done something wrong though because all Chester says is “ok. Enjoy your week.” Before hanging up.

Lina puts her phone down and screams into her pillow again. Then take her anxiety medicine and falls asleep.

Lina is woken up to her phone screaming at her. She knew immediately that Nikki would hear from Tess how Chester was acting. She wasn’t sure she was ready to have that conversation but every time the phone stopped ringing, it would start again a few seconds later. Lina knew Nikki won’t stop until she answers, so the next time it starts screaming, she answers it. “I didn’t need the rude awakening, Nikki. Are you dying? You better be.” Lina says to her bff.

Nikki, feigning bruised feelings, says “But Leeeeeeeenaaaaa! Chester is in a foul mood and Tess thinks it’s your fault. Whenever you and he get into it, he gets nasty at work.”

At this, Lina’s anger flames are reignited. “If you tell her anything-“ she starts. But she knows Nikki wouldn’t without expressed permission. She take a moment to calm herself. “Look. I just told him to stay out of my personal business. That’s what we agreed on and jealousy doesn’t become him.” Lina decides that’s all she’s saying on that.

“WHAAAAT?” Nikki screams into the phone. “Who is he jealous of?! Do you have a boyfriend that you haven’t told me about yet, Lina?! WHY WOULDN’T YOU TELL ME?!” she cries.

Lina rolls her eyes at the very Oscar worthy performance Nikki was giving. “No, Nik. You know I’d have told you. I just have breakfast with someone. And he invited me to dinner tonight as well.” She yawns and stretches before checking the time. It was 4 pm. She looked at her phone and saw no messages. Just the couple hundred missed calls from Nikki. “Nik, if you were invited to dinner, and the person said they were dressing up, what would you wear?”  
  
A few more hours went by. She waited for Jackson to call or text her. She bit her thumb nail down to the nub. Pacing back and forth in her room. Her phone starts singing a tune that sounded very melancholy. She sighs as she answers Jerry’s call. He was congratulating Lina for a job well done. The interview looks crisp and professional. Jackson seemed genuinely into the questions. She seemed to know a lot of information on Jackson as well. Lina blushes as she looks herself over in the mirror. She decided to get ready just in case. This time, she wore a navy blue dress that had most of her skin exposed. She loved the dress and never had a chance to wear it. She figured if anyone is worthy of the dress, it’d be Jackson. She also is wearing a matching lingerie set. _Just in case._

She thanks Jerry for the compliment and tells him she’s taking Monday off as well since that would have been yet another editing day for her. He agreed to the request and ended the call. Lina stares at the phone, willing Jackson to message her. But another hour passes. She decides to make herself up. If he doesn’t contact her within the next hour, she’s going to get Nikki and going out. There’s no way she’s going to sit in the house moping over it. She needed to go somewhere after taking so much time to get ready.

Her jewelry was white gold with sapphire accents. Her makeup was a brown smoky eye with a bold red lip. She wasn’t going to waste time and effort. Maybe she’ll go to the restaurant and apologize to Chester. Maybe they could have an actual grown up conversation about how he’s been acting lately. Maybe-

Lina hears the doorbell. Her mother answers the door. She can’t make out what her mother is saying but a moment later her mother is calling her to the door. Lina is just as shocked as her mother sounds. She peeks her head out from behind her door. “Who is it?” she snaps. “Well with that attitude I might tell him you’re not home.” Her mother snaps back.

_Who just shows up at my door?!_ She grabs her phone and black clutch purse before going to the door. She stands frozen in front of the open door.

Jackson had brought roses that he gave to her mom. He is staring at Lina, looking floored at what he was looking at. Lina felt a little too seen and she looks at her mother. “Where did those come from?” she inquires.

Her mother, not wanting to placate to her daughter, just rolls her eyes and starts to walk off “Just keep her safe and make sure she gets home sometime tomorrow!”


End file.
